The AEW Thread

[Lyle Lanley]

1 minute ago, AFCDannyFTH said:

Surely that confirms Punk is coming back but even with him, 90k tickets? Holy f**k. 

Still surprised WWE haven’t done a Wembley show yet. 

[AFCDannyFTH]

Just now, Lyle Lanley said:

Still surprised WWE haven’t done a Wembley show yet. 

After Clash at the Castle they'll definitely run it at some point. This is wild. Anything less than a stellar build to All In could be catastrophic for AEW. Between this and Vince taking over again, AEW have a wee window to regain the momentum lost since All Out 2021. Fingers crossed they pull it off. 

[TheGoon]

I think without Clash at the Castle and MITB, they might’ve filled it such was the clamour. Doubtful now, but reckon they’ll still shift a lot.

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

Crikey, that's a bold move from AEW. I would have thought they would have gone for the O2 or Craven Cottage before attempting a massive stadium show

[Lyle Lanley]

2 minutes ago, AFCDannyFTH said:

After Clash at the Castle they'll definitely run it at some point. This is wild. Anything less than a stellar build to All In could be catastrophic for AEW. Between this and Vince taking over again, AEW have a wee window to regain the momentum lost since All Out 2021. Fingers crossed they pull it off. 

I’ve only really watched MJF’s stuff in the last 2 months, as I felt a little bored with AEW and rarely watch it these days but that announcement might just make me watch AEW regularly again. 

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

I'll be very disappointed if Darby Allin doesn't attempt to climb the arch at some point.

[cb_diamond]

A Tony Khan major announcement, that actually turns out to be a major announcement! There's a first for everything! I'll make the effort to go to that. Who's organizing a P and B wrestling nerds bus?

Edited April 6, 2023 by cb_diamond

[djchapsticks]

It's a bold as f**k move I'll give him that! They might just have a shout as well to be honest such is the appetite for live WWE shows here.

They'll need some bigger names though to be be sure if they wanna sell it out and I see Drew is out of contract soon and is nowhere near a new deal.

[FairWeatherFan]

34 minutes ago, djchapsticks said:

It's a bold as f**k move I'll give him that! They might just have a shout as well to be honest such is the appetite for live WWE shows here.

They'll need some bigger names though to be be sure if they wanna sell it out and I see Drew is out of contract soon and is nowhere near a new deal.

Even more so when you consider All Out is still happening the following week.

Feck knows how the balance out those cards to sell a stadium on one hand and sell PPVs for the other.

[djchapsticks]

12 minutes ago, FairWeatherFan said:

Even more so when you consider All Out is still happening the following week.

Feck knows how the balance out those cards to sell a stadium on one hand and sell PPVs for the other.

Of course - I read it as All Out to be fair.

[Lukovic]

I imagine the tickets will be cheaper than WWE's recent UK shows to help them fill it up.

[forameus]

Fucking bold move from AEW, fair play to them.  WWE struggled to fill in Cardiff, but then that's because it's probably easier to get to and from some of Scotland's smaller islands than it is to do the same for Cardiff.  I think if Clash at the Castle was Clash at the Wembley Midden, they'd probably have come close.  It's a balls-out move, and I really hope they sell healthily, as it'd be a massive knock if they have to close off sections.  It's very interesting it being the week before All Out though - are we just going to get a glorified house show with nothing really big happening given they'll presumably be saving that for one of their bread and butter PPVs?  They surely don't cannibalise the impact of All Out just to pop the UK marks, but then it would be absolute lunacy to expect to fill Wembley Stadium whilst holding back.

As for Dynamite itself, I'm not sure they fully capitalised as much on WWE's nosedive few days.  Another good show, but fell back on the now usual AEW tropes.  Starting to really grate with them trumpeting how many title matches they've got on when you know that there's almost no chance of anything actually happening in them.  Good matches, absolutely, but little sizzle beyond that.  FTR staying around felt like less of a moment than it should've been (although I do wonder whether the plan was perhaps to go and that quickly changed in the past few days amusingly).  Jay White coming in didn't quite feel as big as someone of his stature.  The Wembley announcement was obviously big, but Khan looked like he'd had even more cocaine than usual during it with his mad staring eyes.

As a side note, fucking hell those American flag shaggers really, really pop for anything relating to their home town, don't they?  I'll never get it.

[FairWeatherFan]

I don't think this was the plan for Jay White.

Does a 'Loser Leaves Japan' match.

Due to it being reschuduled, does a 'Loser Leaves NJPW' match.

Turns up in AEW a couple of months before Forbidden Door.

While people may say it's a clean break, or part of a larger story around the Bullet Club leadership I rather think Papa H and Regal were whispering sweet nothings in his ear.

[Ludo*1]

I can't see them selling out Wembley but there's the potential for them to get close enough to do some Vince McMahon style camera trickery and just inflate the number regardless so it's a win either way. The bigger issue is having it so close to their other big PPV - how do they build momentum for both shows and make them feel like top tier events?

Still - can only be a major positive that they have that sort of ambition. They've got an opportunity to seize some of the worn out WWE fans here and they've got to be bold to capitalise on it because the opportunity won't be around for long if they half arse it.

[forameus]

41 minutes ago, FairWeatherFan said:

I don't think this was the plan for Jay White.

Does a 'Loser Leaves Japan' match.

Due to it being reschuduled, does a 'Loser Leaves NJPW' match.

Turns up in AEW a couple of months before Forbidden Door.

While people may say it's a clean break, or part of a larger story around the Bullet Club leadership I rather think Papa H and Regal were whispering sweet nothings in his ear.

Definitely has the stink of him probably going to WWE, then getting cold feet.  Which is probably absolutely right in this case.  I'm not as much of a subscriber to the belief that Vince is now doing absolutely every role in WWE again, but his presence is now a big, dark cloud over the company.  If I was any wrestler, let alone one with the profile of Jay White, I'd probably be thinking twice about moving right now.  

[FairWeatherFan]

35 minutes ago, Ludo*1 said:

I can't see them selling out Wembley but there's the potential for them to get close enough to do some Vince McMahon style camera trickery and just inflate the number regardless so it's a win either way. The bigger issue is having it so close to their other big PPV - how do they build momentum for both shows and make them feel like top tier events?

Still - can only be a major positive that they have that sort of ambition. They've got an opportunity to seize some of the worn out WWE fans here and they've got to be bold to capitalise on it because the opportunity won't be around for long if they half arse it.

That's the set up for a Wembley concert this year. From the 90k people talk about with the right staging they can basically stick a quarter to third behind the entrance. Close off the upper decks on the hard cam side. It's not going to be hard to make it look good. I'll be less of a fan just because most of it will be in daylight.

9 minutes ago, forameus said:

Definitely has the stink of him probably going to WWE, then getting cold feet.  Which is probably absolutely right in this case.  I'm not as much of a subscriber to the belief that Vince is now doing absolutely every role in WWE again, but his presence is now a big, dark cloud over the company.  If I was any wrestler, let alone one with the profile of Jay White, I'd probably be thinking twice about moving right now.  

It might be VISA influenced. Plenty of people have had issues lately. If WWE are in the middle of a hiring freeze and he's been sat without a deal, got to bite the bullet sometime.

[Billy_Gunn]

Daddy Ass will be at Wemberlee. Hope to see you all there.

[8MileBU]

20 hours ago, Lyle Lanley said:

Still surprised WWE haven’t done a Wembley show yet. 

They filled old Wembley for Summerslam 92 back in wrestling’s heyday. WWE are happy to live off that era and will be happy to live off that Wembley 92 show without tainting it with a half sold effort 30-odd years later.

AEW at Wembley is a fucking helluva ballsy move though. There’s simply no denying Tony Khan has one enormous mighty set of plums. But then he’s got a stupid level of wealth that could absorb the hit if this runs at a loss. 

The pop Jericho is going to get from the UK crowd will be massive, although sadly 50% of the hype will be the opportunity for a massive Wembley rendition of “Judas”.

Jay White returning - Yaaawn. 

Commentary saying he’s “the most exciting free agent in pro wrestling right now!” and hyping him like he’s an exciting newbie. Piss off. He was in AEW for a few months just last year, was boring then and will be boring again.  “Switchblade” is a crap name too. 

MJF is absolute gold! Also loving the fact AEW are breaking the mould and giving all these younger, smaller guys a push for a shot at the world heavyweight title at once. Think it’d be cool if Hook were thrown into the equation too just to have this growing list of hungry young hotheads going after MJF and the title belt.

Edited April 6, 2023 by 8MileBU

[DA Baracus]

Booked flights and accommodation for All In. Fairly reasonable price too, but some hotels near Wembley are already sold out and the flight prices will surely start to go up steeply shortly.

[FairWeatherFan]

10 hours ago, 8MileBU said:

They filled old Wembley for Summerslam 92 back in wrestling’s heyday. WWE are happy to live off that era and will be happy to live off that Wembley 92 show without tainting it with a half sold effort 30-odd years later.

 

I reckon they would have done it last year. Fact is they got a kickback from a Tourist board to go to Cardiff. Just like with Puerto Rico coming up. They'll go where they are getting paid. Fans are the cherry on top.

Edited April 7, 2023 by FairWeatherFan